What a Week!

Oh my gosh! Let me tell you, ladies and gents, missionary work is hard, but it is so amazing. I don't think I will ever be able to fully convey what it's like, but it is really amazing. 

First of all, we were able to go to the castle gardens last week in case anyone was sitting on the edge of their chairs dying to know. It was so pretty. Roylaty really has it made...I guess. But it was fun. We also had an eating appointment last monday with an old couple in the ward. They are very formal and gave us a huge meal. It was so delicious though. It was just a little difficult becuase they kept dishing more onto our plates and expecting us to somehow be able to finish it. I think I did pretty well. I saw one of the elders hit the wall though. We were eating dessert, and he was struggling so hard to finish it though. He was a man about it and managed to get it all down. It was a miracle. Ok, but in all honesty, I really do appreciate the eating appointments with a lot of food, because we walk around a lot, and I get hungry, so I like it when we get to sit down and eat a lot. I actually love it.

So aside from my eating rant, this week was pretty tough, not gonna lie, probably the toughest week of my mission, but I have seen so many miracles this week as well. On Friday we were teaching an investigator and he had gotten into some anti-mormon literature. I think anti mormon literature is the dumbest thing ever. The investigator said flat out, that he does not believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet. That broke my heart. I really did want to sit down and start crying because I can't imagine what it must be like to not know or believe that we have a prophet on the earth today. It is just so sad to me. We talked about dispensations, and how we can have a relationship with God and find out for ourselves. AND THEN our ward member who came with us busted out a perfect talk from a general authority about trusting the internet vs. trusting God. It was amazing! This my friends is why we have members present at lessons, not just because they can whip out their technology, but because they are also able to figure out what the investigator need, usually better than us. It's so great. The investigator seemed to like this talk, so we told him we'd give him a copy and he said he would pray again to know if this church is true. We are all praying for him now.

Saturday, was a particularly hard day for me. We went in the morning to teach a different investigator about the plan of salvation. This investigator is great, he wants to be baptized and has a date set to be baptized in June, so it was going to be a pretty good lesson. Well, Sister Powell is doing great talking about death and resurrection, and she passed the torch off to me. I started talking, but realized that I really had no idea what to say or how to describe what I wanted to describe. I think I said something about outer darkness, but who knows. Sister Powell saw me struggling, so she took over and finished it off, but I felt horrible. I know the plan of salvation. I have been learing it my whole life, but I could not teach it. It was actually horrible. I prayed a lot in that moment. I just needed some comfort because I have really been trying my best the whole time I've been out here, but I was so mad at myself for messing up. Well, we left the appointment, got some lunch, and in the midst of my despair, Sister Powell told me to recite D&C 4 auf deutsch. In that moment, I thought she must be crazy because I really didn't feel like it, but I did it anyways and it helped me remember what I am doing here. It was really great actually. Heavenly Father gave me the perfect companion. I am not perfect and I shouldn't expect myself to be. I can only do my best. 

Later on that day, we went to see an investigator who is sick. She has some infection in her throat I think, and was sitting at her table scared to take antibiotics because she reacts to them sometimes. We watched her take the drugs and told her to go lie down on the couch. Her neck was kind of swollen and she seemed to be hurting a lot. Sister Powell was talking to her, and I dampened a cloth in some hot water for her to wrap around her neck. It felt so good to be doing something for someone else. She is the sweetest lady ever and I'm glad we could help at least a little bit. We are going to make an appointment to teach her this week.

One great thing about the ward here in Ludwigsburg is that it has a pretty big primary. If you can win the kids hearts over, their parents will love you too. My parents sent me some smiley face stickers, and all the kids love my name, so I give them stickers on Sundays. It's so fun. When Sister Powell and I were leaving yesterday, I had a whole pack of them running over. They pick what color smiley face they want and stick them on their shirts. 

Next Sunday, we have a group visiting our ward called "the mormon bikers". Bikers as in motorcycles. Apparently there's a whole group of them here in Germany and they ride around going to different wards and stuff. I am so excited to see what it's like.

Anywho, life is good. I am learning to appreciate this work more and more as time goes on. I love hearing from you all. Keep it coming and make good choices.

Liebe Grüsse,

Sister Smiley

Nothing Ventured Nothing Gained

Hi Everyone! It is safe to say that missionary work is literally what it's title says: work. I'm totally ok with that though because that's what I signed up for. I have a handful of experiences that I'm really excited to share.

So first of all, studying. It is so important, not because we have to have every scripture in Das Buch Mormon memorized, but because if we have not studied something out in our mind first, than the Holz Ghost can not bring what we need to mind when we need it. For example, when I was on the plane flying over here, I was actually scared to death, but all of a sudden a scripture mastery popped into my head that I really hadn't thought about since I was in seminary. It was the "be not afraid neither be thou dismayed for the Lord thy God is with thee withersoever thou goest" one. It literally popped into my head out of nowhere and comforted me more than anything could have at that moment. I could not have had that happpen though if I didn't study it out earlier in my life. Well, I don't know if any of that makes sense, but I've been learning that lesson a lot this week.

Another lesson I've been learning, is that I really have to let the Lord control things that I have no power over AT ALL. Zum beispiel: The other day, Sister Powell and I were in a village going to drop off some flowers for a member's birthday, but low and behold, the buses changed routes without our knowledge and we got lost. We walked around the village for about 45 minutes looking for a bus stop that had a route that would take us to where we wanted to go. At first I was super frustrated and annoyed because this would mess up our schedule for the rest of the day, but there comes a point where you have to throw your hands up in the air and say: I tried my best and this is obviously how things are supposed to be right now. The positives from this experience: it was a super pretty day, the village we walked around was so pretty, we had to wait a while for the bus to come that we wanted to come, so we had lunch at a really good bakery, AND we found a potential investigator!

By the time we did get back to Ludwigsburg, Sister Powell HAD to use the bathroom, so we went to the train station. I was waiting just outside and started talking to a worker there. His name was Jurgen and he really wanted to know what I was wearing a name tag for. It was awesome! We talked about Das Buch Mormon, what Mormons generally believe, and next thing I know, he's giving me his card and asking to make an appointment so we can talk about it more. We gave him a Buch Mormon and our card and made an appointment with him that night. IT WAS SO COOL! It was the first potential that I found and I'm quite excited to meet with him and talk about it more. We'll see what happens.

 

Another cool story: on Saturday, our district got together in an area called Pforzheim, and had a finding day. We set up a stand on one of the walking streets and set out to go find people. Most often, people say, they are happy how they are, or they don't have time, or they're not interested, which is fine because everyone has agency, but it's like candy when someone stops to hear what you have to say. We got to talk to a few people, and get some contact information, but the coolest part for me was being able to use my Italian. I stopped a guy probably in his thirties and started talking to him. I realized that he didn't really get what I was saying, so I asked where he came from: ITALY! His name is Angelo, and I got to use my broken Italian to talk a bit about Das Buch Mormon and Jesus Christ. He said he liked it and the book, so I gave it to him, and information for contacting the Pforzheim elders. Fingers crossed he does, but I was just so excited that my eight weeks of Italian at BYU payed off.

One thing our mission is big on is serving the members of our wards. I think that is awesome because we need their help teaching investigators, but it kind of seems rude in my mind to ask that of them and not do much in return. So Sister Powell and I often find ourselves baking cookies or making cards to give to members. Something we have started doing is bringing flowers to members homes when we have eating appointments with them. IT IS SO FUN! Ask anyone in my family, I love flowers! And here they turn the bouquets into art. Sister Powell and I have a usual flower shop where we go to and the ladies there know us. We're always so mezmerized when they put the flowers and greens together to make a beautiful bouquet. It's just so classy. And the members really like it too. It's so fun

Something else that's kind of cool here is that members all bring baskets to church here. They carry scriptures and whatever else they need in a basket. It makes going to church so much more old school. I like it a lot. The ward is great too. We have loads of eating appointments because people want to get to know me and the other new elder in the ward, so I'm just going to keep running every morning and hope I don't end up rolling home from my mission. 

Today is P-day, and Sister Powell and I have set aside some time today to go see the castle gardens. It is such a pretty day, so I hope we can get everything done we need to in order to do it, but I love my mission and I love being here in Lundwigsburg. I hope you all have a great week. Make good choices!

Sister Anna Banana Smiley

The pictures: we have a cow toilet in our bathroom, we found facemasks in our bathroom, and eating a "donner" on the finding day

LUDWIGSBURG!!!!!

I'm here! I am in the field and it is so great!! The name of my first area is Ludwigsburg. It is north of Stuttgart and is SO pretty. I'll put more details about it later on in this email, but I want to start with my journey here and my last days at the MTC.

So first of all, leaving the MTC was so sad. I loved it there so much. Life was probably a little too easy there. At least it became too easy. On what was supposed to be our last day of instruction, our teacher wasn't there, and our two other teachers were out of town for a conference. We found out that the one teacher was in the hospital because his arm got infected (yes, that can happen). So we didn't have a teacher for our last day and they told us to conduct our own studies. Well that was so not going to happen. Our district talked to the MTC President and he let us walk to the hospital in Chorley and go see our teacher. We all signed a card and then walked over. It was like a ten minute walk. We got there and he was actually just getting ready to check out because everything was all good, so we gave him the card talked a bit, met his wife, and headed back. I guess when I write it out, it sounds simple and uneventful, but it was super exciting to us. People don't usually just leave the MTC like that.

Well, on Wednesday, after many hours of departure orientation from the previous day we headed to the airport. Let me tell you, I have never been so scared in my life. I think the word I used in my journal was petrified. On the way to the airport, my district of five missionaries was freaking out. Sister Arnold and I kept telling each other that we couldn't believe we actually signed up for this of our own free will. There are not many churches where teenagers hop over to Europe and start teaching the gospel in a language they don't know to a culture they are not familiar with. This is actually insane, BUT I have one thing that makes it completely and totally ok. Faith. Heavenly Father knows what He's doing. He is watching over me, is proud of me for doing this, and wants to see me do well. Being scared is normal. We are all humans, but if we have to rememeber not to be dismayed because the Lord our God is with us withersoever we go. ITS SO AMAZING!!!

We spent our first night at the mission home in Munich where we ate dinner and did some training. The dinner was amazing. Sister Miles is a wonderful cook. 

Me & Sister Powell

Later on in the evening we were put with our new companions. Drum roll please.....SISTER POWELL!!! She is so awesome. She is from Arizona and has been super great about answering my questions and helping me out with my adjustment to the mission field. The next morning we were off to Ludwigsburg together. 

We got to the train station in Munich and there was a whole cluster of missionaries and their suitcases there already. We all just stood there and talked with one another until our trains left. It was cool too because missionaries from parts of Austria, Switzerland, and Germany were all coming in from their trains to be transfered to their next areas. My whole MTC district was still there but we were all dreading saying goodbye to each other. We literally spent all day everyday together for six weeks. You get really close to people when stuff like that happens. One by one, they all filtered away on their respective trains and it was so sad. It's like saying goodbye to siblings you are really close with and having no idea when or if you'll see them again. Ok so I will see Sister Arnold and Elder Lynch again because we all ended up in the same zone, so we'll see each other on June 3rd for zone conferences. Elder Marley went to Zurich Switzerland, and Elder Werner went to Innsbruck Austria. I'm just praying that we will all get together again at some point because they are all awesome people and I feel so blessed to have been able to get to know them. 

In da square

Anywho, Sister Powell and I got on our train to Stuttgart and it was the most amazing thing ever. 12 missionaries, and 24 suitcases...big suitcases. Thank goodness for elders, because I didn't have to lift my suitcases once, but it was really amazing when we got to Stuttgart watching all of the suitcases get ripped off the train by some elders in a matter of a couple minutes. I was thoroughly impressed. Sister Powell and I took one more train and then a bus to get to our apartment in Ludwigsburg, and that was it. Our apartment is fantastic. Super clean and modern, and there are disney princesses on my bed. Anyone who knows me knows that is doesn't get much better than that.

 

Ludwigsburg Ward is on fire right now. My planner is already packed with appointments. We have inactive families and investigators. The ward makes lots of eating appointments with us so we get lots of good food, and we talk about family mission plans and stuff. It's great. 

Ludwigsburg itself is so pretty. It is a little city outside of Stuttgart. There is a castle, that Sister Powell and I are going to see on one of the upcoming p-days, and there are loads of little villages that look a lot like the kingdom in frozen.

 

Yesterday we went to our ward mission leader's home to skype our families for Mothers Day. It was so fun. We made pizza and at 6 I got to talk to my family. Just so everyone knows, they are alive and well. 

I don' have much time left. Sorry this one is so long, but loads has happened. Here is my address for the next 12 weeks. This gets things directly to my apartment. The Munich address gets things to the mission office. I get that mail once a month so decide what you think is best, but here is my apartment:

Kirche Jesu Christi HLT

Sister Smiley

Simanowizstrasse 11

71640 Ludwigsburg

Make good choices!

Sister Anna Banana Smiley

MTC Experience Coming to a Close :(

I think I always start out my emails like this, but I can't believe I'm a week away from being done with my MTC experience. This time next week, I'll be in Munich learning what my first area will be. I am plenty nervous but also plenty excited to apply everything I've learned here and test out my German. Since I'm traveling next Wednesday, you probably aren't going to hear from me any sooner than a week from Monday becuase I'll be transistioning to normal Monday p-days.

The River Ribble

Last Wednesday afternoon, the seven of us that were at the MTC went on a Church history trip. We saw where President Hinkley stayed when he was here, the towns of Preston, Downham, and Clitheroe, as well as a really pretty college that I cannot remember the name of right now. Let me tell you, it was not easy getting this Church up and started. Looking at how far it's come and how much the Church has grown is amazing. We got to see the River Ribble which is where early saints were baptized here. It is kind of a cool river and we were in a park in Preston  so it was picturesque. 

It was also amazing to see the English country side. It looked just like Jane Austin books. There were sheep and horses and lots of rolling green hills. I couldn't really capture it on my camera, so I'm sorry, but you'll just have to take my word for it.

Not exactly what I had in mind for street contacting

Tomorrow we are going to Manchester to practice street contacting. Sister Arnold and I aren't allowed to participate because our visas are for educational purposes here so we are going to "observe". If anyone talks to us, we are supposed to tell them that we are observers and that they should talk to our "friends". I don't mind observing. I'd love to practice finding, but it'll be cool to go out to Manchester and see it happen.

Yesterday, Sister Arnold and I were teaching an "investigator" who we have been teaching for a while. We had one last thing to teach him before his baptism: "Obey the Law of the Land". It was going well, and Sister Arnold was talking, but then I saw the investigator's face turn from his usual enthusiastic smile to that look of "What the heck are you saying to me?!" I looked down at my book and listened to what Sister Arnold was saying and realized that she was telling him that we need to be good mountains...not citizens. It was kind of funny beacuse he asked how we were supposed to become mountains and if that's even possible, but we got it cleared up and he is still getting baptized so there! It was funny.

This week we got got seven new missionaries at the MTC. Six elders and one sister. We are in a three-some with the sister when she is not in class; her name is Sister Morris. She comes from Wales and is going to the Leeds England Mission. She is so sweet and funny. She makes fun of our American ways a lot. So she is the Sister in the pink in our temple picture today. 

The Temple - Everyone Should Go!

OH yeah! and speaking of the temple, I think everyone should go as frequently as possible. I will have gone to the temple six times in six weeks and have no idea when or if I'll go in the next 17 months. I'm quite positive that everyone reading this has the ability to attend a temple without going to another country or state for that matter. Temples are a gift on earth for our profit and learning. USE THEM!

Anyways, the pictures are of the crew in front of the River Ribble, Sister Arnold, Elder Marley, and I in Clitheroe, and us at the temple. 

Have a great week and make good choices!

Sister Smiley

Week 4!!!

Missionaries in the England MTC

As I'm sure you all know, this week was Easter! It was so fun getting to be here at the MTC for it. Quite honestly I thought it wouldn't even feel like Easter and things would just go as normal on Sunday, but there are only seven of us missionaries here right now so President and Sister Edwards did a great job of spoiling us. We all went for breakfast at their apartment in the morning. It was crepes! Then at sacrament, five of the seven of us had to give talks. The topic was Easter, and I was "fortunate" enough to have been able to be picked to talk. I had to do it in German becuase that's "my language" but I think it didn't go too bad. I did read a lot from the scriptures though...

Desert!

For dinner we had a Sunday roast which was fantastic as usual, but dessert was the real kicker. Our cook made little chocolate suffles with homemade ice cream and strawberry sauce. I've attached a picture, I think it speaks for itself sufficiently. 

Anyways, later on we watched a live devotional broadcasted from the Provo MTC. The speaker was Dieter F. Uchtdorf and it was AMAZING! Sister Arnold and I want to see if we can get hard copies of the talk becuase it was just so great.  Here are two big things I learned from that devotional: 1) Fear no man! Talk to everyone. I'll admit, man is pretty tough, but the strength of the Lord is even greater. 2) When people know and feel your love, you can never be too bold. 

The District

Sister Arnold and I have been noticing when we go to the store that people see our name tags and then look down right away because they don't want to be preached at, but we did notice that if we smile at them and say hi, they look at our tags to see what our deal is and smile back. Just love people. We're all God's children so why not? 

Well, after this amazing devitional, we got to go to the President's apartment and watch the movie "Legacy". We ate popcorn, drank apple juice, and sat on couches. It was so nice. We all freaked out whenever David and Eliza kissed...it was weird.  Overall it was a great Easter. I don't think I'll ever forget my Easter at the England MTC.

Tough conditions

In other news this week, the weather has been great. On Saturday, it was so nice out that one of our teachers moved our tables from the dining room outside so we could sit right next to the pond and eat our lunch. It was so pretty and picturesque.

Sister Arnold and I have one "investigator" that we've taught about seven times now and is committed to baptism. The other day, we were trying to explain to him that he would be baptized by a man (don't make fun, we can only do really simple statements in German right now), but it took us a few tries to get it right and the "investigator" even broke character a little bit trying not to laugh. First we told him that "You are baptizing yourself". Then "You are baptizing a man", then "A man is letting himself be baptized" and I think we even got to, "A man will let you be baptized". The only reason we knew that what we were saying was wrong was because of his facial expressions after each statement. I think we got it right eventually but I really need to work on reflexive pronouns.

Ok, so here's my last story for the week: there we were, the seven of us and our two teachers playing soccer on the field outside during our exercise time. It was going fine, no injuries, and smiles on faces, when all of a sudden a flock of about 30 elders (not from the MTC) started approaching us. My first thought was, oh they want to play, we can just give them the field then. But no, what ended up happening was we had to play WITH them. Sister Arnold and I and about 30 elders. Lets just say, the testosterone level was really high and I felt greatly outnumbered. We were divided into teams and I stayed out of the way most of the time becuase these elders were so serious about this game. They were from all over the world, but I was particuarly afraid of the Belgians. They don't mess around. So there I was, standing there, attempting to look interested when all of a sudden the ball came right to me. What are the odds of that? There was no one else around me to make it seem like it was really for them, so I knew that my foot would have to come in contact witht the ball. The thing is though, it's never just the ball coming towards you. There are also about seven elders coming towards you who look like they are willing to rip your head off in order to get it from you. I'm a sister so they wouldn't get too physical, but they would still be capable of a significant amount of damage. Anywho, for the brief milisecond were the ball was just in front of me, I heard about three people yelling "Sister Smiley!". I don't know what they expected. I just kicked the ball somewhere and ran away. And that is my soccer story. After a few more minutes we, the MTC missionaries, had to leave, but our teacher stayed out cuz he wanted to play, so he made sure our team won. It probs wouldn't've happened without my magical moment.

My companion, Sister Arnold & me

Well that's all for this week folks. PLEASE keep in touch. I love hearing from people and knowing what's going on in your lives. I hope you all have a wonderful week. Smile at someone, go to the temple, hand out a passalong card, and make good choices.

Sister Smiley

Week Three!!!

I don't even know where to begin. 

Outside the England MTC

I can't believe that I'm half way through my stay at the MTC already. It has been ganz toll thus far! I can't even put into words how much I love it here. I'll do my best to convey to all of you how fantasic it's been. I'll start with the most shallow reason that I love it here: the food. I know I've already discussed this but let me expand a little bit. I do not eat in a cafeteria. I eat in a dining room. The cooks here really know what they're doing with scones. We have them at breakfast and dinner and they could not be more delighful. I have also become quite fond of a candy called strawberry bon bons. They are little pink spherical balls. You put them in your mouth and they start out hard and then soften and just sort of melt away. Ignorant people would say that they are covered in sugar, but I prefer to call it a dusting on of magical pink dust that I believe comes from a place where faries might lives.

Me and Sister Arnold

Another fun thing is that my district's window looks right out onto a pond where an abundance of ducks come to run jump and play. Everyone in my district has developed a strange addiction to bird watching. Things can get pretty fierce between the swans and geese sometimes. Everyone is always trying to protect their wife, but Sister Arnold and I enjoy watching the harrons (spelling?) quite a bit. They walk really funny. Whenever something happens in the pond we all run over to the windo and watch with real consentration. One might say that we are doing the Audobon society proud.

One elder in our district (Elder Lynch from Ireland) got a huge package this week. It was all easter stuff from his mum. He was told to share it with us because everyone else in our district is from the States and she didn't think we'd get much for easter. That was super nice of her. We all got chocolate and little yellow fuzzy chicks to put on our desks. They're the epitome of adorable.

For the past two weeks we had a group of missionaries here and we kind of got to watch them go through their MTC experience and I thought that was so interesting. 

On the day they got here there was one elder I noticed who was holding his head a lot. He looked so beaten down and lost and sad and tired, I wanted to cry just looking at him. There wasn't much I could do for him besides pray for him, so I did. He was brought up in Leadership Council on Sunday because his district leader noticed how down on himself he was. President said to love him and pray for him and really pat him on the back because that is something he did not get at all at home. By the end of his two weeks here, he was laughing, having a good time with the other elders and just had another smile on his face all the time. Someone asked him how he got to be so happy and he said that he had never been needed or wanted before, but he realized that everyone who doesn't know about the message of the restored gospel needed him and the fact that there were people who needed him in particular made him happy. ISN'T THAT AMAZING!

On another  note, we had a testimony meeting this Sunday because a group of 20 missionaries left the MTC today to go out to the field so it was their last sunday. I was conducting the music (as always), and at the end we were singing "I Know My Redeemer Lives". I have to say, there are few things more powerful than listening to a group of missionaires of the Lord sining that song. At the last verse everyone started singing so loud. It wasn't rehearsed or planned, it just happened because it was what eveyone felt and meant. It hit me like a wall. It was a struggle to maintain my composure while conducting the music, but it was amazing. That is why we are all out here. We want to share with the world that we know that our Redeemer lives, so come what may. I really can't tell you how it felt in that room at that moment, but I KNOW that my redeemer lives, and I can't wait to share that message with the people in the Alpine mission. 

I love my companion, my district, and the fact that I get the be totally dedicated to serving the Lord for 18 months. This is really the only time in my life that I can do this and it is such a blessing. If any one is reading this and does not know that they have a Father in Heaven who loves them, I hope and pray that you will do what it takes to find out.

Study and fun

Anywho I am doing great! Keep writing because I love to hear from everyone!

Sister Anna Banana Smiley

PS: I have the funniest district ever

Week 2!!

At the Temple

Here I am in the second week of my MTC experience! Crazy! I attached some pictures. One of them is a picture of our view from our class room. It's lovely. This week has been so great! I love being here. This MTC must have been made just for me. Last week I really had no idea what to say, so this week I've been keeping track of things I want to tell you all:

First of all, Sister Arnold and I became Sister Trainer Leaders this week. It may or may not be because we were the only Sisters at the MTC at the time, but its all good. We go to leadership meeting each Sunday with all the district leaders, zone leaders, and the president. We discuss needs of missionaries and such. It's a lot like BYC so I like it a lot because I always enjoyed BYC.

The view from the England MTC

One skill that I've really appreciated having while here at the MTC is my overall familiarity with music. I cannot tell you how many times I've had to conduct and play the piano. This Sunday, our district is singing Nearer My God to Thee in German. I will be covering the alto part. Knowing music has just been so helpful. Anyone going into the MTC anytime soon, I hightly recommend being somewhat familiar with music, you will appreciate it so much.

Conference was this week was so good! 

I felt the Spirit more here than I ever have at conference before...maybe because I am a missionary. Anyways, something that really struck me was Elder Rasband's talk. It was the first talk in the first session, but I know it was something I really needed to hear. He talked about the little girl named Tori who was in a school bathroom during a tornado and prayed for safety. I just loved that so much, becuase Heavanly Father is always there to answer the prayer of a little girl. Wether it be a little girl hiding in a bathroom or a little girl in England learing to be a missionary, he is always there to answer our prayers.

Another thing I learned this week during my personal study was from a scripture, 3 Nephi 13:28 "Consider the lilies of the field; how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin."I'm sure many of you are familiar with that phrase from the song, but seeing it in the scriptures changed the meaning for me. I want to grow like I lily. I shouldn't toil or else I can't be as strong as I want to be. I can't really explain what that scripture meant to me, but I liked it a lot.

The District

My district figured out German sentence structure this week: you simply have to talk like Yoda. Put the words in the most not logical order: We must to church go or Wir mussen zu Kirche gehen. See, it's easy. Actually the German is coming along really well. I am super far from perfect and have plenty of grammar to figure out, but I can converse pretty well, so I'm going to keep truckin along. My favorite word this week: Kichern=to giggle.

Here's a funny mishap that happene in class. We were rollplaying and I was the investigator. An Elder told me "If you read the Book of Mormon and study it, you'll have obedience to your mother". I guess we still have work to do, but we were all laughing about it.

That's all I have for this week, but WRITE ME LETTERS! Seriously though mail is the best thing ever next to the gospel. Have a great week and make good choices :) Sister Smiley